Education Minister to meet teacher unions today over payment of promotion arrears for 28,000 teachers

The Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, says his office will meet the leadership of teacher unions today, Tuesday, October 27, to resolve outstanding validation issues affecting 28,000 teachers awaiting payment of their promotion salary arrears. The meeting is expected to address concerns that have prevented the affected teachers from successfully completing the validation process and receiving their payments. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, October 27, the Minister said the government is committed to resolving the issues to enable the remaining teachers to receive their arrears.

“I am compelled to invite the teacher unions to an emergency meeting this morning. I have reached out to them,” he said. He urged the teachers not to resume their strike, assuring them that the planned engagement with their leadership would help determine the way forward.

The Minister said the government had already paid the arrears of 52,000 teachers who successfully completed the validation process out of about 80,000 who had been demanding payment. “The 52,000 promotion arrears on the new grade were honoured by the government and paid by the government by October 16. What is outstanding is around 28,000, which includes some non-teachers; they may not be able to get payment because the validation process has not been completed,” he explained.

READ ALSO: Gov’t pays 52,000 teachers’ promotion arrears, 28,000 pending He said the outstanding payments could be processed again, with the government targeting payment by mid-November or the end of November. The Minister also indicated that the government could consider a supplementary allocation for October as an alternative to facilitate payment to the affected teachers. The planned meeting follows the suspension of industrial action by teachers over delays in the payment of their promotion salary arrears.

The government may consider a supplementary allocation to pay the outstanding promotion salary arrears of about 28,000 teachers and other staff whose claims have not yet been validated. Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu said the government was considering the option alongside fresh processing of the claims, with the aim of paying the affected staff by mid-November or the end of November. “What is outstanding is around twenty-eight thousand, which includes some non-teachers, who may not be able to get those payments beginning tomorrow (October 28) because (their) validation process has not been completed,” he said on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Tuesday, October 27.

“We cannot delay payment of salary across the country to validate them, so we may require a supplementary midway in November or just do it by the end of November,” he added. Mr Iddrisu said the government had paid the promotion salary arrears of 52,000 teachers who successfully completed the validation process, out of approximately 80,000 people seeking payment. He said his office would meet teacher union leaders by the close of Tuesday to discuss the outstanding payments and agree on the way forward.